someguy945:BronyMedic: if you say you've never parked in the fire lane at a grocery store while getting food, you're lying..lol

What the fu....have all you guys done this?

Yep. We do it because if there is an actual emergency that we need to respond to, it is nice to have the truck where we can get to it. If we park in a regular parking space we might have to delay a response. If you are in a service that doesn't post, but goes back to a base after calls, it is common for the crews to actually cook dinner.

surfrider:DarkSoulNoHope: Silverstaff: fnordfocus: Happy Hours: Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

I think that's over-thinking the situation. It's not $150 so the cops don't sniff around and find something else, it's $150 or you go to jail (and eventually prison) for stealing gas.

More extortion than blackmail.

Thing is, it's a really DUMB scam.

Why? Because think, how would they substantiate their accusation?

If it was paid for with a credit card, there will be a charge on the record. If they paid cash, they'll still have a receipt.

If you get somebody who paid cash and didn't get a receipt, then you have the issue of having to pull out video evidence. . .which will show the actually paid. A sudden blank spot in the recording right when they visited would look helluva suspicious, and be Reasonable Doubt.

Sounds like a scam that somebody really dumb would try. It would fall apart real quick the first time they tried it on somebody who wasn't deathly afraid of running into the police.

Only thing I can think of, if this calling a customer to say "You didn't pay us for the gas you got, pay us $150 or else we call the cops" scheme to work (if it's true, and not just some fiction concocted by the origional poster) is that it wouldn't be a random customer the extorter would pick but a customer that the business owner profiled as unscrupulos.

Wait, and how the hell would the gas station attendant or owner have a random customer's PHONE #?

What gas station do you go to that isn't pay at the pump with the card going in before it starts or you give them cash up front and they give you back the change?

globalwarmingpraiser:someguy945: BronyMedic: if you say you've never parked in the fire lane at a grocery store while getting food, you're lying..lol

What the fu....have all you guys done this?

Yep. We do it because if there is an actual emergency that we need to respond to, it is nice to have the truck where we can get to it. If we park in a regular parking space we might have to delay a response. If you are in a service that doesn't post, but goes back to a base after calls, it is common for the crews to actually cook dinner.

I thought we were talking about regular civilians, not emergency workers.

Yeah, in that case, I see fire trucks parked in the red all the time at my local grocery store, Sheriffs vehicles parked in the red at the fast food joints, etc. And I've seen them have to bail instantly when they get a call, leaving whatever it was they were doing in the store.

I have zero problems with emergency dudes and dudettes parking in red areas. Me in the red zone? Not a chance.

This. They're closer to the vehicle if they get a call, they don't have to worry about getting blocked in or having to back out of a regular space, and...if there was a need for an emergency vehicle to use the space for an actual emergency, well, hey, they're already there.

This is the thing that has always got me. We have had calls at stores and people called the chief complaining that we were "shopping". And becaus of sensitivity to parking in fire lane, when were shopping, the engine or ambo has to be parked at the far end of the lot. This gives us a nice run while dodging cars with drivers that 1) are texting, 2) not paying attention, 3) dont care about pedestrians anyway, or 4) jockeying to get a sweet parking apot that they cut other drivers off, let alone people on foot. Or all of the above.

surfrider:DarkSoulNoHope: Silverstaff: fnordfocus: Happy Hours: Maybe this scam would work on a few people, but I don't really see it having a snowball's chance in hell of it having a very high success rate and I would expect the blackmailers would very quickly get busted. Blackmail works a whole lot better when there actually is something to blackmail someone for.

I think that's over-thinking the situation. It's not $150 so the cops don't sniff around and find something else, it's $150 or you go to jail (and eventually prison) for stealing gas.

More extortion than blackmail.

Thing is, it's a really DUMB scam.

Why? Because think, how would they substantiate their accusation?

If it was paid for with a credit card, there will be a charge on the record. If they paid cash, they'll still have a receipt.

If you get somebody who paid cash and didn't get a receipt, then you have the issue of having to pull out video evidence. . .which will show the actually paid. A sudden blank spot in the recording right when they visited would look helluva suspicious, and be Reasonable Doubt.

Sounds like a scam that somebody really dumb would try. It would fall apart real quick the first time they tried it on somebody who wasn't deathly afraid of running into the police.

Only thing I can think of, if this calling a customer to say "You didn't pay us for the gas you got, pay us $150 or else we call the cops" scheme to work (if it's true, and not just some fiction concocted by the origional poster) is that it wouldn't be a random customer the extorter would pick but a customer that the business owner profiled as unscrupulos.

Wait, and how the hell would the gas station attendant or owner have a random customer's PHONE #?

As I said, the original poster who concocted this story could in fact be lying about it. As for my excuse, I am just trying to come up with hypothetical situations to keep me from being bored as I deal with my insomnia. :)

There are signs but nothing is to stop them from just slapping a boot on anyone they want. The same towing companies that employee gang-bangers run these operations.

I got one put on my car at a grocery store where after coming out of the store I walked to the sidewalk and got a free newspaper out of a newspaper box before retuning to my car w several bags of groceries. They were putting it on and wouldn't take it off without $150 in cash. The store manager said I should have read the signs. I loosened the cap on my gallon of milk and dropped it on the mats in the door vestibule as I left. I had no time to do anything but pay.

Since this store is just down the block from my house and I know what bushes these guys hide behind I make sure to throw all my dog shiat in there. One of them gotten beaten pretty badly a few months ago after some guys showed up for revenge and as one held them at gun point the other hit one guy a few times w a bat. I don't go to the store anymore. Luckily Mexican fresh markets (best cheap produce ever) are every few blocks.

Silverstaff:Why? Because think, how would they substantiate their accusation?

If it was paid for with a credit card, there will be a charge on the record. If they paid cash, they'll still have a receipt.

If you get somebody who paid cash and didn't get a receipt, then you have the issue of having to pull out video evidence. . .which will show the actually paid. A sudden blank spot in the recording right when they visited would look helluva suspicious, and be Reasonable Doubt.

Sounds like a scam that somebody really dumb would try. It would fall apart real quick the first time they tried it on somebody who wasn't deathly afraid of running into the police.

No, officer, we don't have a video camera, but that's just a receipt he picked up off the ground.

Ah, the private-lot boot. One of the benefits of over-regulated California is that these are 100% illegal. You can only get booted by the law (police or city parking enforcement) on public property and only if you have five unpaid tickets. 22651.7 VC.

When I was growing up in Colorado, I got booted at a friend's apartment complex. I noticed that their cheap-ass boot didn't cover the lug nuts, so I grabbed my jack and got to work on the tire. They'd planned for this and booted two wheels. Unfortunately for them, as an off-roader I was carrying two spares. I took the boots off at home with an angle grinder, then got a cylinder lock pick, practiced with "my" boots and went on an un-booting spree every time I was over there.

someguy945:globalwarmingpraiser: someguy945: BronyMedic: if you say you've never parked in the fire lane at a grocery store while getting food, you're lying..lol

What the fu....have all you guys done this?

Yep. We do it because if there is an actual emergency that we need to respond to, it is nice to have the truck where we can get to it. If we park in a regular parking space we might have to delay a response. If you are in a service that doesn't post, but goes back to a base after calls, it is common for the crews to actually cook dinner.

I thought we were talking about regular civilians, not emergency workers.

The medic in Brony Medic means paramedic. We are a different breed and all of us abuse Fire lanes. So do Fire Fighters and police.

Seriously. People are upset over the fact that it was an ambulance with its lights on, but the part where store employees can just put boots on vehicles as they please is equally WTF.

It's a privately owned parking lot, so they can boot cars in it, but they would generally need good reason.

My employer will boot vehicles in our parking garage, but only on your third offense of parking someplace that isn't marked as a space (like at the end of a row) because its dangerous. You get warnings the first two times (and probably e-mails if you registered your license plate like you're supposed to). They automatically remove the boot the next day - so you just have to find your own way home and back for one day.

Your employer sounds like an asshole. I bet he has a reserved parking space, too.

globalwarmingpraiser:someguy945: globalwarmingpraiser: someguy945: BronyMedic: if you say you've never parked in the fire lane at a grocery store while getting food, you're lying..lol

What the fu....have all you guys done this?

Yep. We do it because if there is an actual emergency that we need to respond to, it is nice to have the truck where we can get to it. If we park in a regular parking space we might have to delay a response. If you are in a service that doesn't post, but goes back to a base after calls, it is common for the crews to actually cook dinner.

I thought we were talking about regular civilians, not emergency workers.The medic in Brony Medic means paramedic. We are a different breed and all of us abuse Fire lanes. So do Fire Fighters and police.

You guys doing that is all right by me. If you're parking your sevice vehicle in the fire lane, you aren't taking up a parking spot that I can use.

Zarquon's Flat Tire:I saw a truck booted last week on the side of a residential street, not in a lot. Yesterday the truck, and the boot were still there. I'm starting to wonder if it is being used as an anti-theft device.

There's a strategy. Maybe even allow you to park wherever you want. Just boot your own vehicle, sprinkle some fake tickets on the windshield and you're good to go.